bonds
by queen ino
Summary: Sakura's formed a lot of bonds over her twenty-three years; some were temporary, and some were permanent, but they all made some sort of impression on her, whether large or small. For Sakura Week.


This is for Day Two of Sakura Week over on Tumblr. :D The prompt for today was bonds, and I very uncreatively titled it with the prompt, because I don't feel like coming up with anything creative. Also wasn't overly creative with my idea, but oh well. I like it. Anyways, enjoy! And also, a piece of advice: if you're a Sakura fan of any kind, head over to Tumblr and check out all the wonderful Sakura Week things people are making – they're all amazing. c:

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Naruto the wonderful show or Sakura the fabulous character. Don't even technically own the idea, since it was a prompt. :D

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Sakura's formed a lot of bonds over her twenty-three years; some were temporary, and some were permanent, but they all made some sort of impression on her, whether large or small. Five, though, are prominent in her mind each time she thinks back on all of those connections; each for different reasons, and in different ways, but important all the same.

Yamanaka Ino is the first she thinks of; of her most important people, aside from her parents, Ino was the first she met, and she helped start Sakura on her path to who she is today. If Ino hadn't approached her that one day eighteen years ago, back when they were five and Academy students and Sakura was still embarrassed of her forehead, Sakura just _knows_ that she wouldn't be who she is today; their friendship and rivalry spurred her to greater heights, and while others had an impact on it as well, most definitely, she wouldn't have reached where she is now without her best friend (well, one of them, at least).

Naruto is, easily, her second best friend; she's known him just about as long as she's known Ino, though she didn't really _acknowledge_ him until they were thirteen. Now, though, he ranks high in her precious people list, and she'd gladly give her life to save him. He's done so much for her in the ten years since then – protected her and gotten Sasuke back (with her help, of course) and encouraged her to take the jonin exam when she was nineteen, when, even after all that she'd done, she still worried that she wasn't good enough. He'd bluntly informed her that that was one of the stupidest things he'd ever heard, and that she was strong and amazing and would be so awesome in the exam (which she was, in fact). Even when she felt useless as they come, Naruto was always there to tell her that was stupid and she was amazing and strong and the best kunoichi he knew, and that has always meant so much to her.

Sasuke is her third best friend, and probably the person she knows best aside from herself and possibly Ino. She's had a crush on him since the age of seven, been truly _in love_ with him since thirteen or so, and has been dating him since twenty-one, so, yeah, she knows him pretty well by now. She knows about his past, his brother and mother and father, and all that happened to him in the years after he left the Leaf for Sound and eventually the Akatsuki. He's most definitely more than just her boyfriend, though; he's her third best friend and her fighting partner, and she would trust him with her life (and has, on a few occasions), and she'd easily give her life for him as well. For her short-lived ANBU stint at twenty, he was her partner, and they made a seamless team, fighting together without even talking. He supports her, too, just like Naruto (though not as boisterously), and is usually the second person to glare at anyone who dares call her useless (whether because she's a medic or a woman or some other convoluted reason) – the first, of course, is herself, and she loves him all the more for it.

Her genin team sensei is fourth in her list – he only officially taught her for a year, until she was thirteen and managed to become apprentice to Tsunade, but he was also made the leader of her team after Naruto's return, when they reformed Team Seven under the name Team Kakashi, and they've been on countless mission teams together, and she can fight alongside him almost as flawlessly as she can Sasuke and Naruto. While he didn't teach her an overly large amount of jutsus as a genin, he did impress on her the importance of teamwork and teammates and precious people, and he's easily become one of hers.

Princess Tsunade, her teacher and former Hokage and role model, has definitely made a lasting impression on Sakura; she taught her to heal and fight and keep herself alive so she could keep others alive, and she most definitely wouldn't be who she is today without that training. She also wouldn't have Naruto or Sasuke or Kakashi without that, because she's saved their lives with Tsunade's training plenty of times. Tsunade taught her more than just that, though: she taught her to summon Katsuyu and use Tsunade's own jutsu, the Strength of a Hundred Seal, which she'd never taught to anyone until Sakura came along; but other things, too, ones not related to fighting, like how to carry herself with pride and confidence and strength in herself, and not to take rudeness from anyone, no matter who they were, and also how to be a _kunoichi_, and not just a shinobi.

Of all the bonds that Sakura's made in her twenty-three years of living, those five are the ones who made the biggest impressions on her, who helped shape who she is as a kunoichi, as a person, as Haruno Sakura, one of the Leaf's best. She wouldn't be who she is today (advisor to Uzumaki Naruto, Rokudaime Hokage, head of the hospital, and well-known and well-feared jonin of the Leaf) without them; and for that, she is eternally grateful.


End file.
